[Noisebridge-discuss] Accent Workshop Class for Non-native Speakers

[hep]

Also this isn't to say that I am personally against this, just that we need
to keep in mind these viewpoints from cultures other than ours so that we
don't unintentionally blunder into a huge racial incident with the
community that surrounds Noisebridge, or traditionally oppressed cultures
within San Francisco.

-h


On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 8:55 AM, hep <dis at gruntle.org> wrote:

> Actually you can lose abilities with your native language, especially if
> language retraining takes place at a young age.  I grew up a native spanish
> speaker, and was forced into "speech classes" for more than 5 years to lose
> my native accent. To this day I can no longer speak spanish with as much
> physical fluidity as before I lost my accent, and because of the fact that
> letters are pronounced different from english to spanish, i often now have
> to think about how to speak spanish so i don't end up mispronouncing words.
> Particularly in hispanic communities, accent erasure is considered to be
> colonial and yet another form of white dominance in america to do with the
> racialization of language (despite the fact that many hispanic and latino
> people have been here since this WAS mexico).  I cannot speak for other
> cultures, but I know that in many latino and hispanic cultures accent
> erasure is now frowned upon as disconnecting more of the threads to one's
> native culture in favor of the white american dominant culture
> (particularly those hispanics like myself who are many generations
> american, going back to the 1700s.) and there is a movement to stop the
> practice of having latino native spanish speakers work on reducing or
> losing their accent.
>
> This is something to keep in mind especially with the current situation
> re: gentrifying natives out of the mission, and the current hostility to
> hispanic immigrants in this country. This is also part of the current
> identity and racism in tech issue that is going on in the Valley,
> particularly relating to Paul Graham's xenophobic comments about CEOs with
> accents:
>
>
>
> http://valleywag.gawker.com/dear-paul-graham-your-priorities-are-so-far-out-of-wha-1228175284
>
>
> http://latinaish.com/2012/01/23/erase-or-embrace-the-accent/
>
> http://chicanvern.blogspot.com/p/assimilation-denial-of-cultural.html
>
>
> http://www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/sites/www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/files/publications/WhatLanguageAreYou_Final.pdf
>
>
> http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/05/21/born-in-us-but-speaking-with-accent/
>
> http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb2625587
>
> This is something we all need to think about, especially in this day of
> interconnected internet gossip and communities organizing online against
> things they feel threatens their culture. It would suck to show up on
> Valleywag as "NOISEBRIDGE TELLS FOREIGN SPEAKERS TO LEARN ENGLISH" and
> considering the climate of the valley and the mission at this time that is
> certainly something that could happen.
>
>
>
> -hep
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 7:57 AM, C. Honnet <cedric at honnet.eu> wrote:
>
>> Haha, we can't lose it most of the time so no problem for that (at least
>> I know I'm stuck with mine) but it's sometimes really tiring to not even be
>> understood because of our pronunciation...
>> ...and it's good to be able to hide it in hostile environments, this
>> workshop can save lives!
>> lol ;p
>>  On Jan 15, 2014 9:51 AM, "Gregory Dillon" <gregorydillon at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Understanding has to be important, but I just want to chime in that I
>>> like hearing foreign speaker's accents.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 7:22 AM, C. Honnet <cedric at honnet.eu> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Artur,
>>>> You rock.
>>>> This is a really excellent idea!!!
>>>> Thanks a lot ;)
>>>> Cedric.
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: Artur Moczulski <artur.moczulski at gmail.com>
>>>> To: NoiseBridge Discuss <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>>>> Cc:
>>>> Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 19:07:47 -0800
>>>> Subject: [Noisebridge-discuss] Accent Workshop Class for Non-native
>>>> Speakers
>>>>
>>>> Hey Noisbridge Members,
>>>>
>>>> I would like to organize an accent and pronunciation workshop for
>>>> non-native speakers at Noisebridge. I am aiming for a 2 hour slot on
>>>> Saturday at noon. I would like to use one of the classrooms for this.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to promote the workshop by various "social" websites
>>>> including meetup.com and any other way that will help me build the
>>>> core group.
>>>>
>>>> Is there anything I should know about organizing events at Noisebridge,
>>>> outside of what is included here:
>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Hosting_an_Event ? Do you have any
>>>> tips on how to book the classroom for this?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Artur Moczulski
>>>>
>>>> "Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
>>>> +1 (563) 321 - 3382
>>>> about.me/amoczulski
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Let's stay in touch.  Greg
>>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> hep
> hepic photography || www.hepic.net
>     dis at gruntle.org || 415 867 9472
>



-- 
hep
hepic photography || www.hepic.net
    dis at gruntle.org || 415 867 9472
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